{"id":37196,"date":"2014-06-06T08:27:21","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T13:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=37196"},"modified":"2014-06-09T10:36:42","modified_gmt":"2014-06-09T15:36:42","slug":"beef-checkoff-vote-sparks-debate-on-how-beef-is-taxed-promoted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/06\/06\/beef-checkoff-vote-sparks-debate-on-how-beef-is-taxed-promoted\/","title":{"rendered":"Beef “Checkoff” Vote Sparks Debate on How Beef is Taxed, Promoted"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

Photo by DAMIEN MEYER\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>

The beef checkoff vote is about more than just a one dollar tax.<\/p><\/div>\n

Forget the governor’s race. All across Texas people are voting over beef.<\/p>\n

Friday is the final day for ranchers and others who deal in cattle to vote on implementing a Texas beef checkoff, a tax charged each time a cow is sold. There’s already a national be<\/a>ef checkoff <\/a>that levies a one dollar assessment on the seller per cow.<\/p>\n

The vote today is on a proposal to create a Texas checkoff, also for a dollar. If the proposal passes, most ranchers in the state will pay a two-dollar tax for each head of cattle they sell.<\/p>\n

The government doesn’t collect this tax. The money goes to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board<\/a> which then gives some of it to the\u00a0National Cattlemen\u2019s Beef Association<\/a>.\u00a0That industry group uses it to fund beef-related research and to promote beef. The same group also lobbies Washington on behalf of the beef industry. Supporters of the checkoff argue that the tax has raised the price of beef over the years by creating demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time the price of beef goes up, it helps me,\u201d says Texas Rancher Curtis Younts Jr., who supports the checkoff.<\/p>\n

But the Texas vote has become about more than a one-dollar tax. Many are viewing it as a referendum on the way beef is taxed and promoted in Texas and the US.
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